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MySpace and Facebook -

In 2005, Mark Zuckerberg met with MySpace founder Chris DeWolfe to discuss MySpace’s acquisition of his then-fledgling social networking site.

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MySpace and Facebook -

DeWolfe reportedly turned down Zuckerberg’s US⁠$75 million ask⁠—a poor decision judging by MySpace’s subsequent demise and Facebook’s meteoric rise.

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Real Network and the MP3 player -

It’s very difficult to imagine listening to music on an iPod made by anyone other than Apple. Yet if it weren’t for a pivotal decision by tech company Real Network, that might be our reality.

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Real Network and the MP3 player -

Before Tony Fadell teamed up with Steve Jobs to create the new, sleeker MP3 product, he pitched it to his then employer, Real Network. It was only after their rejection that he turned to Steve Jobs.

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Blockbuster and Netflix -

At a fateful meeting in Dallas, Texas in September 2000, movie rental company Blockbuster turned down the opportunity to purchase struggling young company Netflix.

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Blockbuster and Netflix -

Before Netflix got into streaming and took over the world, it was a DVD-by-mail rental service, which apparently wasn’t attractive enough to former Blockbuster CEO John Antioco.

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Excite and Google -

In 1999, Excite was second only to Yahoo in the ranking of dot.com boom search engines. By 2001, it had filed for bankruptcy.

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Excite and Google -

In a questionable decision by CEO George Bell, Excite turned down the chance to buy Google for US$750,000.

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J.K. Rowling and publishers -

Before 'Harry Potter' was a US$14 billion franchise, it was a pile of handwritten papers that J.K. Rowling was struggling to get published.

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J.K. Rowling and publishers -

The first agent she approached gave her a swift "no," and, while the second took her on, it was only as a wild card shot that Bloomsbury agreed to publish.

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Ross Perot and Microsoft -

In 1979, a young Bill Gates offered to sell a majority shareholding in Microsoft to the business magnate and founder of Electronic Data Systems, Ross Perot.

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Ross Perot and Microsoft -

Although it was actually Perot who approached Gates in the first place, he eventually turned down the ask of US$60 million, as he felt it was too steep.

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Digital Research and IBM -

Bill Gates almost missed out too, however, when he turned down the opportunity to license his operating system to IBM and instead pointed them towards Digital Research.

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Digital Research and IBM -

Luckily for him, Digital Research asked for too much and IBM came back to Gates.

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Xerox and the PC -

In the history of computers there’s Apple, there’s Microsoft, and then there’s the lesser-known Xerox PC.

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Xerox and the PC -

The first Xerox Alto machines were introduced in the early 1970s, but there was no market for PCs and Xerox didn’t know what to do with the technology.

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Atari and Apple -

As a youngster, Steve Jobs worked as a game designer at Atari. When it came to raising capital for his new computer project, he first approached his boss, Nolan Bushnell.

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Atari and Apple -

Bushnell was offered a third of the company for US$50,000—an offer that he likely regrets turning down.

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Hewlett-Packard and the computer -

When Steve Wozniak was working for Hewlett-Packard in the 1970s, he tried to get the company excited about his new personal computer project.

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Hewlett-Packard and the computer -

When his proposals fell on deaf ears, he turned to Steve Jobs, with whom he pursued the project from a garage.

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Kodak and the digital camera -

It could be said that Kodak's decline was an inside job—the digital camera technology that ruined camera film was actually the brainchild of one of the company’s employees.

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Kodak and the digital camera - When engineer Steven Sasson first came up with the idea for the technology, he was met with criticism from Kodak, who felt it would threaten traditional film and suppressed it.

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Decca Records and The Beatles -

When the four boys from Liverpool approached industry big dog Decca Records for a contract, they were met with a resounding "no."

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Decca Records and The Beatles -

Decca felt the era of guitar bands had passed, and so The Beatles signed with EMI instead.

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Western Union and the telephone -

When Alexander Graham Bell first sent speech via a gadget he named the telephone, he offered the patent to Western Union for US$100,000.

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Western Union and the telephone -

Western Union said "no" to purchasing a device they described as "idiotic." To them, it couldn’t possibly rival the convenience of the telegraph.

See also: Celebrities with side businesses.

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